Having gathered enough information throughout the qualitative survey and acquired knowledge on the subject thanks to the available literature, the following chapter covers the recommendations describing some solutions that Swiss society could approach to avoid a massive dismissal in the future. The recommendations are classified within two major categories, the employer’s side and the employee’s side.
4.6.1 Employers’ responsibility
This recommendation is a general proposal resulting from the interviews. The banks (or the employers) should remain the principal actors in the development of future skills and capabilities of their people. Indeed, the managers should empower their employees – by acknowledging the unavoidable, future events and giving the necessary information to deal with them efficiently.
4.6.1.1 Change of culture management
First of all, the banks will have to change their culture management to an agile and innovation culture opened to change and thoughts. It can imply rethinking the vision, mission and values and increasing the diversity. By doing so, it will redefine the employees’ mindset of accepting uncertainties as well as working in a new collaborative and flexible environment. Some banks are already testing the “Flex Office5” to go towards the culture management change.
4.6.1.2 Trainings and workforce transitions
Then, it is a question of using the appropriate means of communication to pass information internally through e-mails, events or meetings by appointing digital communication influencers to raise awareness. That way, employees will understand that the times are changing, and they must be curious on what is expected from them and how to work efficiently. Furthermore, the banks will have to deploy further trainings and e-learnings to enable perfect understanding of the new tools and digital concerns. It is in the benefit of the employers to undertake this option in order to retain their talents and remain competitive. Finally, banks should accompany the employees who struggle with the technology by relocating them in other departments where their capabilities may be in use (ThomsonReuters, 2016). Switzerland appears to one of the best country for providing corporate training programs already, according to McKinsey, and should carry on with those approaches (McKinsey&Company, 2017).
4.6.1.3 Banks’ diversification strategy
Another recommendation coming from the report of Accenture 2014 – The digital
Disruption in Banking, is diversifying banks’ services. While offering the traditional
banking solutions, such as transactions, saving services, investment, cash management and many others, the banks could start expending their boundaries in unrelated activities, such as activities linked with health, travel, leisure, communication and transportation. In the report, 40% of American and Canadian citizens (4’000 participants) have declared appreciating the help from their bank in purchasing a car by making recommendations that fit the needs and discounts availability. In the same sample, 42% have also appreciated the real estate services including the mortgage. This solution could enable
5 Flex Offices is a workforce which is defined to be dynamic, often referred as a sharing office. In
that space, employees do not have an office with their name on the door and do not work in a cubicle. Instead the employees have the freedom to pick up their laptop in a personal locker and sit wherever they believe their productivity will be at its fullest. It enables brainstorming and exchanges.
banks to strengthen their relationships with customers by offering further personalized services, which proved in the report to increase their loyalty. It could also enable bank to get new sources of revenue and to use their workforce for different tasks where digital tools may still fail to provide (Accenture , 2014). For the business side, banks could create new jobs linked to the current issues, such as environmentalists.
4.6.1.4 Lobbying for actions
The third recommendation was suggested during the interviews. The banks may lobby for increasing awareness towards the digital transformation and its irreversible impact on the banking industry. By putting some pressure on the government, banks might request the development of further needs and capital to retrain their employees. Not only for educational purpose, but the government might need to make regulations concerning digital devices flexible to enable further development in that sense since it is today a fairly difficult path to undertake due to the compliance with the law.
4.6.2 Employees’ responsibility
Another recommendation category resulting from the interviews is the employees’ own responsibility to be curious and get regularly informed on the situations where changes are occurring. Hereafter are given some solutions that individuals could apply:
4.6.2.1 Change of mindset
This option is recommended for employees’ working in any institutions, but especially for those working in private and regional banks which do not necessarily have at their disposal the capital to create a training center. Being curious and accepting uncertainties, often referred to as entrepreneurial thinking, are two skills which will be absolutely vital for employees in those banks. The incentive to develop further their capabilities should come from their own motivation and to increase their digital knowledge should be a matter of urgency. Not only digital knowledge, but developing soft skills as well, such as coping with constant changes, being innovative, reaching an open mind, acknowledging the replacement of one manual task for an automated task and its advantage. All those entrepreneurial capabilities will have to be acquired in order to work efficiently with robots and the new entrepreneurial environment.
4.6.2.2 Acquire new skills
As digital tools will be implemented in processes and tasks, employees are required to have a minimum knowledge on the functions of those tools. It is obvious that new digital skills are going to be necessary in the near future and any employees must acquire those
capabilities rapidly to perform the relevant tasks. Unlike the past time where skills were somehow unchanged during the whole career, in the new digital era, those skills will change over a short period of time and the willingness to learn throughout life will be demanded. Another solution for employees to not quit the banking industry is simply to reorient themselves into new jobs. As mentioned in the “bank’s diversification strategy”, individuals could inform themselves on new jobs creations and be trained accordingly to that purpose.
4.6.2.3 Part-time “bankers”, part-time entrepreneurs
This recommendation came from the literature which suggests individuals to work part- time in the bank and part-time as independent contractors, freelancers or self-employed. McKinsey’s survey revealed that up to 30% of the working population in Europe and in United States earns extra income independently through other personal activities. Therefore, the best way to avoid a huge unemployment rate is to benefit from a flexible work option within the organizations and build small businesses aside to ensure a future income. That option may also help individuals to learn new relevant skills (McKinsey&Company, 2017).
4.6.3 Single source of information
The general idea came from the interviews, when I asked personally whether the interviewees would be able to be informed on a regular basis on the advanced of technology and their impacts. 9 interviewees out of 13 answered that without their bank’s commitment to share information related to the subject, it would be extremely difficult to cope with the news on the Internet. The reason is due to the overwhelming number of websites sharing information. Therefore, the idea is to establish one unique website as being the sole source of information that individuals can reach from home. The Swiss Banking Association does provide much information regarding those trends, but it is still very difficult for individuals to understand fully the content or reach the right content. The platform might be managed by passionate individuals and the government, to post on a regular basis articles, videos and workshops which could train those who wish to be informed of the evolution of banking industry within the digital era. By doing so, people could increase their knowledge on digital tools as well as develop an entrepreneurial mindset.